WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. – Despite the misgivings and consternation of his political rivals, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is expected to announce his gubernatorial run this week.

For weeks, Astorino, a Republican, has been mulling the decision, meeting with influential GOP leaders and securing political allies and donations. After meeting with his exploratory committee on Friday, he is expected to formally announce his challenge of Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo by midweek, possibly as early as Monday.

An Astorino run became all but certain when Daily Voice reported exclusively Feb. 13 that the same RobAstorino.com website used for Astorino's re-election campaign for county executive last fall was relaunched as "Rob Astorino for Governor" on Feb. 13, a month after Astorino publicly said he was "leaning" toward running for governor.

In response to Astorino’s expected run, Democratic Legislator Ken Jenkins (D-16), Peter Harckham (D-2) and County Clerk Tim Idoni launched www.whereisrob.com, claiming that the county executive spent 14 of the first 67 business days of his new term out of the county, beginning his quest toward Albany.

“It appears as if Rob Astorino has forgotten that his first responsibility is to the people of Westchester,” Harckham said about the launch of the website. “Instead of taking care of business in the county, he has been traveling to fundraisers and meeting with political groups around the state and country.”

Astorino may not be the only Republican chasing Cuomo’s seat. Real estate magnate Donald Trump, who has often teased about throwing his political hat into the ring, drew criticism from the county executive for his waffling and fanfare, calling it “circus stuff.”

Trump has been critical of his party-mate on social media, alleging he would dominate votes in a Republican primary.

“Internal polling shows that I would swamp @RobAstorino in a NY Republican primary 77 to 23 [percent]. Won’t run if party is not unified,” he tweeted.

A poll released by the Siena Research Institute in January – in which 808 voters were surveyed – said that Cuomo had a 50-point advantage in matchups against either of the Republicans. This lead in the polls has done nothing to slow the governor down, who allegedly spoke to GOP leaders in the state and warned them against nominating Astorino.

Another poll, conducted by Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal, NBC and Marist College late last year, claimed Cuomo had a 65 to 23 percent lead over Astorino, who was in the preliminary stage of deciding whether to run, with 12 percent of the vote undecided.

Even with criticism being levied his way from both his opponents and members of his own party, Astorino has stood resolute, defending the work he has done and noting that even when he is out on the campaign trail, he still has his finger on the pulse of the county.

“I’m here, and doing everything I need to do to run this county,” he said last week. “Even when I’m not in the county, I stay in touch with the deputy county executive, the chief of staff, our commissioners and make the decisions that need to be made.”

Although nothing is official yet, it looks like a pair of Westchester residents will be squaring off against one another for a seat in the governor’s chair in November.

Comments (13)

I support those who do good for our community. Our government failed to keep our roads safer during this winter season. Our roads are treacherous. Who is responsible for this? No action had been taken from the part of Governor Cuomo, even though he boasted about hiring 100,000 volunteers to face winter storm. I think Astorino is the better candidate, because he is a lucky guy. He knows how to deal with the public.Let us watch and see.

Sorry Rob, but County Executive isn't a work-from-home or remote work assignment. I don't care what you want to run for -- just step down and do it. If you ran for County Executive and told your constituents that the job is so easy I can do it while running for Gov. then you would not have been elected.

I hope that the dailyvoice will ask County Executive Astorino if he will keep and publicize a daily log which will indicate how much of every day is spent working on county business. If County Executive Astorino is not spending 40 hours a week on his county job he should not receive his full time $160,000+ salary.
The County Executive should be treated no differently than any county employee. If they don't show up for work they don't get paid.
County employees don't get paid if they call in and speak to their co-workers. They get paid if they do their job.
PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor

OUR hope in Greenburgh is that you hold yourself and your board to this same standard, keeping a log and publicizing it. How ironic that you receive almost the same amount of money and are only campaigning daily. WE all wish you would stop showing up. YOU are getting paid and we have worse government than the County. The fact that the Greenburgh Daily Voice even prints your garbage proves they are just as corrupt as you are.